Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 50

Vivian couldn’t think of anything else to talk about and was saved by Abby showing up yet again.

“Theo weren’t you supposed to sit with us today?” The cheerleader admonished him as she plopped down in the seat to his left. The blond pointedly ignored both Vivian and Miriam, eyes locked on the boy.

“I sit where I want,” he told her, barely glancing in her direction. “What do you want?”

“I can’t just want to talk to you?”

“Sure you can, but right now I’m talking with Vivian and Miriam.”

“Oh I don’t mind,” Abby assured him, her smile bright and fake as she turned to face the girls sitting opposite them. “What are we talking about?”

“My lack of social skills,” Vivian replied as she leaned back in her chair. There was something entertaining in the thought of getting Abby to insult her in front of Theo. If the blond liked him would she jump on the insult or try and downplay Vivian’s faults?

“You are definitely not good with social cues,” the blond nodded, her smile never changing. “I’m still bummed you never bothered trying out for cheer.”

Vivian nodded once. “I wouldn’t be a good fit anyway since I’m not good with social cues.”

“You’re not that bad,” Theo interrupted. “It’s fun to see where you take a conversation when you miss something in it. It’s why I like talking with you.”

*Well that just tattooed a target on my back*, Vivian admitted to herself as Abby’s smile was suddenly gone, replaced by a glare. *I shouldn’t have pushed. Why did Theo have to say anything?*

“She’s a lot of fun to hang out with,” Miriam added. “We had a blast this weekend hanging out.”

“So you finally got a bit of a social life now that you found someone like yourself?” Abby was back to grinning. “You two are adorable together.”

Pink tinged Miriam’s cheeks at the comment as Vivian suddenly understood what Abby had been alluding to the last time she’d approached them at lunch.

Was Miriam interested in girls?

This didn’t bother Vivian in the slightest. Girl or boy, she had no issue with who liked what gender so long as they respected her boundaries. It seemed like Abby, on the other hand, had an issue with queer relationships.

“Knock it off, Abby,” Theo snapped at Abby, but she wasn’t deterred.

“What? Am I not allowed to point out the obvious? They’re *perfect* for each other and together they’re just *adorable*, don’t you think?”

“You’re too kind,” Vivian finally spoke up, giving Abby a fake smile that mirrored the one given early. “But we don’t hold a candle to you and your girlfriend.”

Abby’s eyes widened as a red flush spread over her cheeks. “I don’t have a girlfriend! I don’t like girls, unlike you.”

“Oh, my bad,” Vivian apologized, allowing her smile to fade. “I just figured since you and the other girl are always together you were a thing, you know? I’m sure you understand how I got the wrong impression.”

Theo smirked. “Serves you right, Abby. You and Emma are joined at the hip. Where is she anyway? I’m surprised she’d not here.”

The colour of Abby’s cheeks darkened further as she was suddenly on her feet, glaring daggers at Vivian. “You’re not as funny as you think you are.”

Vivian cocked her head to one side. “How was that funny?” Playing up the lack of catching social cues was to her advantage at the moment. Would it come to bite her later? Most definitely. But right now she was kind of enjoying the back and forth.

Abby let out a frustrated huff and stormed away, leaving the three of them watching her retreat in silence. When Theo looked to the girls opposite himself he had a wide grin. “See? That was a fun conversation.”

“How much of that did you pick up on?” Miriam asked, her eyes narrowing as Vivian gave a small shrug.

“I’m not as dense as people seem to think,” she replied after a moment. “But I have no issue pointing out hypocritical things when someone tries to make me feel less than.”

“She is never going to forgive you for saying Emma was her girlfriend,” Theo informed them both. “Please make sure I’m around the next time you end up talking to her. This is way too good to pass up.”

“I thought you agreed that high school drama was stupid,” Vivian pointed out with a raised brow.

“Well, yes, it is. But when I’m not involved in it I can enjoy the entertainment value at least.”

Miriam, who’d been taking a drink, started coughing and took a minute to calm herself. “When you’re not involved?” She managed to gasp out.

“Yeah.”

Vivian knew exactly what Miriam meant with the question while Theo seemed to have missed it. Did he not know Abby was doing this because she thought he was interested in someone else?

The easy fix would be to just tell him this theory outright. He would then either confirm or deny it and then Vivian could…

What would she do if he confirmed he was interested in her? Her first thought was to tell him she wasn’t interested and leave it at that, but something in her was hesitant to do that. And the thought of him denying any interest in her left Vivian feeling weird. Uncomfortable somehow.

“I’m pretty sure she showed up because of you,” Miriam continued, pointing a finger at Theo, who let out a laugh.

“Please. Abby’s been in love with Laurent since the seventh grade.”

It was Miriam’s turn to roll her eyes. “A girl can have multiple crushes. Besides, it was only *after* you gave Vivian that slice of cake Abby got rude. Before that she was all about recruiting her to join the cheer team.”

“Are you saying it’s my fault she’s picking on Vivian?”

“Can you not talk about me like I’m not here,” Vivian interjected with a huff. “She’s probably just offended I didn’t show up to the cheer tryouts or something. I’m not worried about it so neither should you.” *I have more important things to worry about than high school drama, so dealing with Abby might be a nice break.*

Her mind instantly went to Detective Oglivie and she was forced to suppress the shudder that came from such thoughts. Before track had begun Vivian had been having trouble sleeping, nightmares of her past and of him catching her, but now by the time she went to bed she was too tired to dream much at all.

It’d been two weeks since their reunion and Vivian hadn’t told anyone about her connection to the detective. He was on the police force, after all. Even if she told someone the truth what could they do about it? It was his word against hers. Him, a decorated officer of the law and her, a foster child with an unknown past.

Who’d believe anything she said?

And then he’d retaliate.

The fact he hadn’t come after her made Vivian worry, but then again she wondered just how long he’d known her location. With his connections it would have been be easy to learn about all her movements, which foster homes she was placed in and why she’d been removed from them.

Why hadn’t he come for her before? Why wasn’t he coming for her now?

“You okay?” Miriam asked, interrupted Vivian’s train of thought.

“Hmm? Oh. Yeah, I’m fine. Just trying to figure something out.”

“Anything we can help with?” Theo asked as he leaned forward a bit. “I’m not too shabby at advice.”

“No, it’s fine,” she replied with a shake of her head. “I’ll figure it out eventually.” The last thing Vivian wanted was to drag either of these two into the mess that was her past.